Bantamahene used to pray every time - Fr Campbell narrates his experiences visiting prisoners during the 1979 coup

Arguably, the year 1979 was, perhaps, the most politically-charged year Ghana since its independence on March 6, 1957.

In that year alone, Ghana had three Heads of State, and the same year witnessed numerous political upheavals, including the execution of army generals and judges, as well as one successful military coup, plus some unsuccessful ones as well.

One person who lived through these political upheavals is Rev Father Andrew Campbell, a Scottish Catholic priest who travelled to Ghana in 1971.

Father Campbell, in an interview on the History Time programme with journalist Kafui Dey, recounted some of the events that transpired in 1979, which was his eighth year of his mission to Ghana.

One of the things he profoundly remembers from the coup in 1979 was his visits to the prisons, where he encountered many people who had been incarcerated by the military dictatorship.

He said that one of the political prisoners he encountered was the then Bantamahene, a revered chief of the Ashanti Kingdom.

The priest, who was by them the parish priest of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Accra, said that the Ashanti chief used to attend the Wednesday mass he held and would mostly be in the front pew.

He said that the chief could not stand the prison and prayed that he would be released.

“I met a lot of people in James Fort Prison and Ussher Fort Prison. I visited both places on Wednesday when I said mass there… They (the prisoners) came to church every Wednesday; one side of the cell had the normal prisoners and the other side, had political prisoners.

“And in front, on a special kneeler, was the Bantamahene. He was on the front bench with his own kneeler, praying ‘Oh God, take us out of this bloody dungeon’. Every time he (the Bantamahene) was praying,” he narrated.

Rev Campbell also said that he used to give the chiefs and the other political prisoners results of football matches from the English league.

“When I went there on Wednesday, I used to give them the football results; these are people who were trained in England. I gave them the lowdown on all the results of Manchester United, Spurs, Everton, Liverpool,” he narrated.

He added that the prisoners came to love him and his church because of the many good deeds they did for them, including cooking hot meals for them every Saturday and helping their families with their financial needs.

“So, when they were released from prison, even though not all of them were Catholics, in gratitude, on the first Sundays, they would come to Derby Avenue, Sacred Heart Parish, stand up in the church and thank everybody,” he added.

Watch his remarks in the video below (from 29:00):



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